


One, Two, and the Omen of Death

by Taitiami (TheWakingWorld)



Category: Rigel Black Chronicles
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Inspired by The Rigel Black Chronicles, POV Outsider, Spoilers for The Futile Facade, Swearing, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:55:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28371243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWakingWorld/pseuds/Taitiami
Summary: Aurors One and Two discuss current events and probably die mysteriously in a few days.
Relationships: Auror One & Auror Two
Comments: 27
Kudos: 82
Collections: Rigel Black Chronicles Appreciation





	1. The Triwizard Tournament Goes Very Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS for chapter 13 of The Futile Facade! Be warned!
> 
> I tried a kind of weird dialogue-heavy format for this fic, so please let me know how it works and if you would prefer more narrative.
> 
> This fic is the brainchild of me and my Discord pals at "harry get some sleep": Canvas by Jomas Paint, Purplefox17, and miranda flamel. I hope you guys enjoy : )

Aurors One and Two were not always known as One and Two. In fact, just a few months ago, neither of them would have even responded to the moniker. But that was before either of them became the lowest common denominator of Britain’s Aurors. 

It was simply bad luck that the two of them were hired the same day, and some cosmic joke that they shared the same last name with each other and another, much more seasoned Auror. So when the two of them were paired up, it was simply easier to refer to them as “One” and “Two” instead of their full names. Often, which was One and which was Two was considered interchangeable as well, so few people bothered to keep them straight. They protested at first, but eventually came to accept that this was their life now.

On this day, the day of the final task of the Triwizard Tournament, One and Two were One and Two unlike yesterday, when they had been Two and One. This was simply because this is what Auror Moody had referred to them as when giving assignments, though Auror Asher had already confused them twice today. 

As the newbies of their unit, One and Two had been given the task of peacemakers among the rabble, there to swiftly end any fights that may break out when the Triwizard Champion is chosen. Considering the volatile nature of the blood purity politics this tournament was saturated in, the chances of this happening were rather high. Despite that, One and Two both found themselves as enraptured by the tournament as everyone else was, unable to exercise the willpower and concentration of more experienced Aurors to do their duties.

“Oh, that’s some _bad_ luck. Dawlish is gonna beat that kid to a pulp.”

“Good.”

“...Dude.”

“No one’s listening. They’re all too worried about their precious pureblood champion, I’d say.”

“That’s still pretty harsh, he’s just a kid—huh? Wait, the kid is actually—”

_“What?_ How is he keeping up with Dawlish?”

“Woah, did you see that? Impressive.”

“He can’t win like this, but somehow he’s holding his own against _Dawlish_ _._ Wait, did he just say the kid was holding back?”

“So he—what? What’s he think that’s gonna accomplish? He’ll just— _Merlin’s balls!”_

“...”

“Hahaha, I don’t care about the politics of this, this kid is great!”

“He’s a _schoolboy_ _;_ he shouldn’t have been able to beat an Auror at all, let alone _Dawlish.”_

“He’s the pureblood champion. And Dawlish might have been going easy on him or something.”

“No way. Dawlish doesn’t know _how_ to go easy on people.”

“Just you, actually.”

“Shut up.”

“Well, I heard he was a right terror in the third task, so maybe he really is just that good.”

“But _how?_ He’s, what, fourteen? And he’s a _Hogwarts_ student—”

“I take offense to that.”

“—and they certainly don’t learn how to fight like that at Hogwarts! And there’s no way Dawlish taught him enough this year to surpass him.”

“Dawlish said something about Black holding back before, right? So he must have learned from someone else. Maybe the last DADA professor?”

“Or someone else entirely.”

“You’re just paranoid.”

“Hmph.”

“A vampire, that’s a bloody _vampire_ —”

“Oh no, the kid’s dead, the kid’s dead, the kid is gonna die, and we’re gonna have to watch—”

“Why can’t anyone get in?! We have Dumbledore and Lord Riddle here, shouldn’t they be able to— _shit. ”_

“What’s the cauldron for? Oh no, oh no, are they gonna make him into a bloody potion or something, oh god—”

“They’re taking his _magic?”_

“Sweet Merlin, I can’t watch—”

“...”

“...”

“Wait what.”

“Wha—is that Lord Riddle?! Why is he _naked?!_ What just happened?!”

“No, he’s too young to be Lord Riddle, must be his kid or—”

“Seriously, what is even going on?!”

“—bastard looking for his father’s attention? There’s better ways to go about that than—”

“Look, it isn’t working! It isn’t working so the kid may have a chance—”

“Why haven’t they…”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...Holy shit.”

When apparently-not-Arcturus-Black apparated away, Moody immediately commanded them all to set a perimeter. With Hogwarts’s wards taken down in a truly dramatic fashion, apparition was now possible, and Aurors One and Two apparated directly to Black Lake.

Wands out and night vision spells cast, One and Two took their positions and continuously surveyed their surroundings with sharp eyes, on the hunt and ready for anything.

Or, well, that’s what they would tell Moody later. In truth, they were kind of preoccupied.

“—only an undead being could survive the Killing Curse like that! He’s gotta be, like, a vampire or something!”

“But he’s been in the sunlight in numerous tasks. Vampires can’t stay in the sun that long.”

“He could have had a sunblock spell!”

“No, this is ridiculous, there is no way Black is a vampire.”

_“He_ isn’t. But the _imposter_ is!”

“You have no proof whatsoever—”

“You saw him, he survived certain death! What else could do that?!”

“Maybe there’s a spell. Or some sort of artifact to repel it.”

“Those don’t exist. If they did, we would have found them by now. And Black—well, the imposter Black—recognized that other vampire—”

“‘Other vampire’.”

“—immediately! This explains how they know each other!”

“So, what, the imposter has been snacking on Hufflepuffs all this time? People would _notice.”_

“Not if he was having blood owled in.”

“...That’s a rather morbid thought.”

“Think about it! The imposter wanted to go to Hogwarts, which doesn’t allow his kind, so he impersonated a new student and got his vampire friend to send him blood! It’s the only logical conclusion.”

“I hate it, but… you may have a point.”

_“See?_ And that’s how he was able to beat Dawlish, he—sweet _Merlin_ , did you see that crow’s eyes?! They were as green as the Killing Curse!”

“Actually, that was a raven. Common mistake. But see, they have a very different and distinct tail shape.”

“...”

“Also, I’d call its eyes more the color of, like, finely polished serpent scales or something.”

“...”

“...” 

“...You know, ravens are supposed to be omens of death.”

“No, no, I’ve read about this. Ravens are associated with ferrying souls to the afterlife, not death itself.”

“Someone needs to die for that to happen.”

“...Oh.”

“That’s an omen of death. I always got good grades in divination; trust me, I know a death omen when I see one.”

“...”

“Maybe the death omen was for the imposter?”

“He’s _undead,_ though. That’s, like, the opposite of death.”

“No, _life_ is the opposite of death.”

“Whatever. The point remains that that death omen wouldn’t be for a vampire. It’s usually for whoever saw it.”

“Then, uh, this is rather unfortunate.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“...”

“...”

“Hey, don’t ravens remember people and hold grudges?”

“Did you do something the bird would hold a grudge over?”

“...Hm.”

Needless to say, One and Two had nothing to report when the search was called off.


	2. The Investigation Goes Very Wrong

The next morning, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was all but in shambles. Head Auror Potter was doing an admirable job organizing the multitude of investigations the Aurors needed to get done before all of Wizarding Britain tore them a new one, but anyone could see that James Potter was stressed out of his mind. His typically unkempt hair was somehow even messier due to how he ran a hand through it every minute or so, and he looked like he’d gone a week without sleep despite the Triwizard Tournament having ended just yesterday. 

So when Head Auror Potter greeted them with a grave “Thing One and Thing Two,” they didn’t bother asking what in Godric’s name he was talking about. They just straightened up despite their exhaustion and saluted him.

“You two are investigating the Lower Alleys along with Kingsley’s team,” Potter said shortly. One and Two held back a sigh of relief. Thank _Merlin_ they weren’t going to be anywhere near Moody and his righteous rampage. The already-curmudgeonly Auror had been reminding everyone and their mother that he had _known_ Black was suspicious but no one listened, no one _ever_ listened until it was too late, and this mess only happened because they were not exercising _Constant Vigilance_ — 

“You’ll report to Moody when you’re done,” Potter added, nodding once before moving on to give his instructions to the other Aurors, leaving One and Two to their sudden despair. 

“Noooo…” One—designated so because the Head Auror had said “Thing One” in One’s general direction—whined pitifully. 

Two said nothing very dejectedly, and they spent a full minute standing in the middle of the room, contemplating their horrible luck, before moving out.

As the majority of Ministry personnel were purebloods, treading into the territory of the dirty-blooded rabble and dark creatures was considered distasteful at best. In normal times, investigations in the Lower Alleys were handed off to the newbies and the Aurors at the bottom of the Ministry foodchain, the only exceptions being for full-on raids. 

These were not normal times, yet once again this job had been foisted off on One and Two.

To be fair, they were hardly the only Aurors shipped off to the Lower Alleys, but it was still some bullshit.

“This is some bullshit.”

“Yeah.”

“This is _bullshit._ We already have to go slumming every Tuesday, and now gotta spend Sundays here too?!”

“To be fair, it’s just for _this_ Sunday.”

“You don’t know that! What if we don’t find anything? Or worse, what if we _do,_ and then we have to spend weeks trying to pry information out of dark wizards?!”

“I mean—”

“And vampires! There are vampire covens down here, and werewolves and all sorts of criminals—”

“Oh Merlin, I hadn’t even thought about that.”

_“Right?”_

“Well, we haven’t had any problems with them before—well, except that one time—”

“We’re gonna die.”

“Wha—Stop being so dramatic! We’re going to be fine! We’re just asking some questions, not to mention we are trained Aurors—”

“Are we really, though?”

“...”

“...”

“I mean, technically.”

“Yeah, we’re dead.”

“...We’re gonna be fine. Come on, we should, uh, ask around. Show the picture to people and stuff.”

“Do we have to? Surely _everyone_ knows Black’s face by now.”

“Not these people—look at them. They’re all either too poor or too shady to go skulking around the broadcast areas.”

“...Don’t talk so loud, I think that hag heard us.”

“It’s fine. Come on, we should do a full sweep of Knockturn then move on to Kyprioth.”

“Real professional.”

“I know, right?”

“So, uh, the ‘Serpent’s Storeroom’ then? Merlin’s trousers, that place looks shady.”

“Should be the best place to find suspect information, then.”

“Is that how that works?”

“I mean, I think so? It makes sense, right?”

“Hm. I guess. But what if there’s a vampire in there?”

“No way, the sun’s out.”

“But it could have a sunblocking charm like the Black imposter—”

“Ugh, just—come on.”

“I mean, this _looks_ like a store selling potions, but there could easily be something else in those bottles, like _blood—”_

_“ Shut up._ Good morning, sir. We would like to ask you some questions for our investigation.”

_“Show him the badge.”_

“As you can see, we are Aurors from the DMLE.”

“Tch, I recognize you two. You’re those kids that went poking around in Burke’s place and got chased out by the Little Ones.” 

“...”

“...”

“Didn’t expect you two would go waltzin’ in here after that. What’re you skulking around here for?”

“...As I said, we are conducting an investigation in the area and would like to ask you some questions. Specifically, about the whereabouts of this young man.”

“...”

“He is guilty of blood identity theft, but you may have known him under his guise of Arcturus Rigel Black, to whom he looks identical. As both are missing, and we would ask that you share any knowledge you may have of either of them.”

“...”

“There is a possibility you may have known him under another name and appearance, so we must know about any suspicious characters you have seen—”

_“Isn’t that everyone down here?”_

“—that may be connected to this case. It is likely that he is foreign, perhaps French.”

“...”

“Sir? Do you—”

“Bah… BAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!”

“?!”

“?!”

“HAHAHA, hahaha…”

“...Sir?” 

“Ha… You two outta go down to the Dancing Phoenix. Ask for Leo, he’ll set you straight.”

“...What does that mean.”

“Go on, get out of here. You’ll get no more answers from me.”

“But—”

_“Out.”_

“We’re gonna die.”

“Stop that.”

“We. Are going. To die.”

“Stop. That.”

“This is the end. We’re gonna be sucked dry by vampires and left to the ravens. Tell my family I always hated them.”

“We are not going to die; you’re overreacting. _Again._ This is hardly the first time we’ve had to come down here. It’ll be just like—”

“We’ve never had to come here after getting a bloody death omen!”

“...Fair.”

To set the record straight, Aurors One and Two _did_ try to go to the Dancing Phoenix. That was the plan. Really. They just, uh, got a little sidetracked.

“...Godric’s buttons. That’s a crow—"

"Act—"

_" —raven_ _._ That’s a raven. Right there.”

“...”

“Is it following us?”

“There’s no way that’s the same raven. No way.”

“...”

“...What’s it doing?”

“Dunno. Looks like it’s… Is it trying to open that window?”

“Why would a _bird_ be trying to open a window?”

“I don’t know! That’s just what it looks like!”

“Maybe it’s just dumb and can’t tell it’s a wind—”

_“_ _Shut up._ What if it hears you?”

“What? It’s a _bird.”_

“No, that is a _death omen.”_

“But it’s still just a bi… rd…”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...Those eyes look kinda… green to you?”

“...”

“...”

“...Run. _Run._ ”

One and Two ran. They ran very far very fast and did not look back even once. 

(Watching the Aurors speed past screaming something about ravens eating them, Krait wondered just what Leo had said to them. He decided he didn’t want to know.)

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone has ideas for the next chapter, I'd love to hear them!


End file.
